Sunday, May 29, 2016

Being from Seattle the first thing we look for in the morning is coffee! After inquiring from a local where the best coffee was we ended up in a little brew shop tucked away in the Santa Barbara Marina......With lots of great scenes to paint! Ann went to do some sight seeing and I unpacked the gear right there...

Love it when I can leave my easel set up and walk around the corner for some great coffee at break time!

The day was overcast with a thick marine layer but that can make for some juicy grays in a plein air painting...

They had the van all fixed up by the end of the day and we were back on the road the next morning headed for Tucson and PACE16....We sure had a great time in Santa Barbara!

Thursday, May 26, 2016

After talking with the guys at the repair shop and finding out we were spending another night in Santa Barbara I headed to the beach hoping to catch the late afternoon sun and Ann got us checked into the Motel. We stayed at the Days Inn on Castillo Street ...Great place!

Ann in Santa Barba

It was just a short walk to the beach and there was a trolley to take you down to Stearns Wharf...I took the long way around the marina and down the beach ending up along the walk with a great view of the Santa Barbara waterfront . Later we went out to eat at the Endless Summer Bar and Cafe to enjoy the evening and wind down after a long day.

I have to say again how much I love my job! Even a break down on the road turned out to be a fun adventure. Just another day at the office....=]

Sunday, May 15, 2016

The van we now drive when traveling to painting locations and events was given to us by my wifes parents. It was very gracious of them and we greatly enjoyed driving it back to Seattle from Ohio via the Trans-Canada highway. We had a grand adventure in the process! The only drawback to the van was it's early life on the salted winter roads of Ohio which can turn a new car into a rust heap in a few years. They took great care of it and kept it in the garage but there is no avoiding that salt!

In Santa Barbara 2016

..That's what came to mind when backing down the steep driveway of the airbnb we stayed at the first night in Santa Barbara. Ann decided to get out and check for oncoming traffic and I jammed my foot on the brake pedal ...then heard a pop and the pedal hit the floor! Ann was out of the van and there seemed to be enough pressure left to keep the beast from careening backward down the hill so we slowly wound our way to town and stopped at the first auto repair shop we came to. Ayers Repair. They took us right in and gave the job a priority because we only had a few days to get to Tucson and make it on time for the convention.

Waterfront

If your going to break down, Santa Barbara is not a bad place to do it in! After leaving the van in the capable hands of Rodger and his crew at Ayers Repair, we quickly set up home base at a nearby Starbucks to check the internet for places to stay and see in SB. Then we took a walkabout to see the sights and scout potential painting sites. May as well get some work done while I'm stuck here!

I settled on the amazing grounds of the Santa Barbara courthouse for my first painting. What a beautiful location!

After that we walked back to the repair shop and found out that sure enough, the break lines had rusted through and the extra pressure exerted backing down the driveway caused a rupture.....We would be staying the night in SB....What a bummer!....I had already located several good painting sites!

Thursday, May 05, 2016

It's really nice when you take a road trip to allow enough time each day to see some sights if you can. We planned on five days traveling to Tucson which gave us plenty of leeway to stop and paint if I saw a good spot.

When we dropped down to highway 101 near Salinas on our way to Santa Barbara We stopped for coffee in Soledad where there was an old California Mission that was still in use. We decided to have a look , then stayed in this peaceful spot while I did the painting above.

By that time it was getting late. We got back on the road hoping to make it to our next airbnb in Santa Barabara and having time to enjoy that city. Little did we know that there would be plenty of time to walk around and see the sights there.

Tuesday, May 03, 2016

What an amazing adventure! We drove 3700 miles round trip to Tucson AZ for the Plein Air Convention and Expo 2016. In the next several posts I will try and document our road trip down and back again.

packed van

I added four Louis Lamour books to our packed van then Ann and I hopped in and headed for the ferry that would take us across to Edmonds and on to our first airbnb in Springfield Oregon. BTW a plug for airbnb, Great service ! I love meeting new people and hotels are so depressing.

Ann enjoying dinner out in Sacramento

After Oregon we headed south through California and made it to Sacramento where we stayed with hosts Melanie and Rick in their cozy basement apartment. We found a Thai place in town and enjoyed some vacation time.

Beautiful California Country

The country between Sacramento and Santa Barbara is stunning! I got the chance to do my first painting at a rest stop somewhere along the way. After a nice rest for Ann and a bit of work for me we headed for Santa Barbara where we ran into the first trouble of the trip.....